Caption: Magic lantern demonstrations, historical artwork. The magic lantern was the ancestor of the modern slide projector. It was invented in China in the second century, and was in existence in Europe by the late 17th century. It used an oil lamp and a lens to project images painted on glass plates onto a screen. This artwork is from the 1702 edition of Oculus Artificialis, a book published by the German monk and author Johann Zahn (1641-1707). The book contains descriptions and diagrams of the camera obscura, the magic lantern, and many other optical devices.